


Dreams of Death

by Daydreaminganewworld



Series: The Shoggoth Saga [1]
Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Cats Make Everything Better, Fear of Death, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Nightmares, the beetlelands arent exactly made obvious but its the thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:55:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22832908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daydreaminganewworld/pseuds/Daydreaminganewworld
Summary: Lydia has a bad dream.
Relationships: Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice/Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice/Barbara Maitland
Series: The Shoggoth Saga [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1641385
Comments: 6
Kudos: 107





	Dreams of Death

“Lyds, Lyds, Lydia!”

Lydia nearly choked as she flung herself up, scaring the cats off her bed. She looked around blindly for a moment, panting as her body trembled, clammy and sweaty. Slowly, she came to her senses, and realized why she had woken up. Beetlejuice was standing beside her bed, wearing pajama bottoms and a too small tank top, looking quite freaked out, and there was the glow of four pairs of cats eyes staring at her from the end of her bed. 

“Beej, I… wha-what’s up?” She tried to rub the sleep still stuck in her eyes away. She felt too aware of the world around her, too aware of her loose pajama shirt shifting from her clumsy movements. 

“What? Don’t try and act cool, you screamed! Legit screamed! Without me around to cause it!” Beej looked quite outraged. 

“I… I just,” Lydia tried to blink the now oncoming tears away. Why was she crying? It was such a stupid dream, she shouldn’t be scared, she shouldn’t be screaming. She could feel the cats starting to climb up onto her bed and wiggle closer, sniffing at her worriedly. 

“Lydia, what happened? Is something in here? If there is, I’ll show them a thing or two, and then Shoggoth will show them a thing or three, won’t be any pieces of them left...”

She could barely hear Beej’s rambling. She didn’t know why, maybe she was still feeling exhausted, maybe she was just so tired of that nightmare. But, with Circe gently nudging her hand to pet the kittens warm, thick fur, Lydia found herself saying, “Beej, when I die, please, don’t let me go to the Netherworld.” 

Beej shut up. She felt stupid. Her cheeks were reddening. No doubt he was gonna be a shit and tease her, try and get their relationship back to the stupid bfffff quota. 

Suddenly, Lydia felt a hand on her arm. “You… you want a hug scarecrow?” 

Lydia looked up to the stupid demon she called a brother, tears filling her eyes. She launched forward, wrapping her arms tight around his large middle, sniffling like a little kid again. The kittens pressed close to her side, purring frantically, and she felt Patchie climbing up to try and lick some of her tears away like Shoggoth does. “It’s stupid, all of this,” she tried to say without sobbing. 

“Nah. Netherworld is a horrible place. Wouldn’t want anyone to go there,” Beej muttered, running a hand through Lydia’s hair like he always did, in his go to attempt at comfort. 

“I just…. I keep dreaming that I’m there again. I can’t find mom, I can’t find dad, I can’t find stepmom, Adam or Barbara, or… or you, and I’m just running through that blackness. Screaming my head off, trying to find  _ someone _ , anyone, and I’m forgetting myself. Who I am. I’m just all alone, in a crazy, dark place and I got myself stuck there. And no one will save me cause I pushed them away,” Lydia babbled. 

Beej’s arms tightened. A moment of quiet sniffling and purring passed, before he spoke. “If you ever get lost in the Netherworld, you can bet your ass I’m going to find and drag your goth ass out. You’re stuck with me. With… with us, okay? I’m not gonna let some stupid dream make you think we’re gonna leave you hanging, Lyds,” he huffed. 

Lydia sniffed one last time. “I think that’s the mushiest thing you ever said,” she giggled. The kittens tried to all climb into her lap at once, and she gave them all the pets they deserved. 

“Yeah well, don’t get used to it. I’ll probably only ever say this kinda stupid shit when you’re being weird like this. So, enough of the tears and waterworks.” A third arm appeared out of Beej’s back and patted Lydia’s face repeatedly, bordering on annoying, with a kerchief, as he scooped Azazel up with his other hand. “I say we tell sleep to fuck off tonight, chug some sriracha and chocolate orange juice and watch your dad’s shitty horror movie collection in the projection room thing the Sexy-lands made up while cuddling cats,” he finished, with an evil grin like he suggested they go rob a bank. 

Lydia smiled finally. “Sounds disgusting, as usual. Let’s do it.” 

The next morning, Barbara found the projector running the Netflix “are you still there” screen in the movie room while Lydia and Beetlejuice lay on top one another under the blanket fort they turned the couch into, empty glasses sitting on the table with a bowl full of half burnt popcorn. The cats were spread out around the room, with Shoggoth on the back of the couch keep watch of them all. Barbara couldn’t help but smile, and moved forward. 

With a trick learned from Beetlejuice, she turned the projector off, and leaned over the couch to the two fast asleep. She pressed a soft kiss to Lydia’s head, and a very slow, tender one to Beetlejuice’s cheek. He grumbled, cracking an eye to glare at Barbara. “You could be courteous enough to join in if you’re gonna bug me,” he muttered. 

“But you look so cute, I couldn’t possibly disturb you two,” Barbara grinned, resting her chin in her hand as she propped it up on the back of the couch next to Shoggoth. The cat gave her hand a few cursory licks, and began to rumble with purrs, expecting the blond would soon pet her. 

Beetlejuice looked over to Lydia consideringly. “Don’t even think about waking her up just to try and cuddle.” Barbara poured all her unimpressed energy into her voice as she ran her hand over Shoggoth’s flank. Shoggoth gave an agreeing beep, shooting Beetlejuice a look that said ‘I will scratch you if you disturb my human kid’. 

“I wasn’t! I was thinking about levitating her. I can’t feel my legs, Babs, she’s a heavy kid,” he retorted. Barbara’s smile returned, and she gently touched Lydia’s shoulder. Beetlejuice felt the weight of her body lessen, and Beef opened her eyes from her spot on Lydia’s back to see why her human bed was moving. 

“How’d you get so good at this ghost shit?” Beetlejuice huffed, shifting ever so gently into a more comfortable position. Circe, disturbed by the shuffling of his feet, moved to sleep on his chest, leaving him with a face full of fur. 

“Well it helps to get actual advice on it, rather than just ‘Feel it with your breasts, Babs!’” Barbara replied, her voice lowering to that hilarious tone as she mimicked a certain demon. 

“Hey, I did not say breasts. I said your tits, and that’s cause that’s exactly where I feel my powers rest when I need to use them,” Beetlejuice jiggled said appendages meaningfully, making Circe glare at him for continuing to disturb her rest. Barbara rolled her eyes and ruffled Beetlejuice’s hair. 

“Get some more rest, Bee. It’s still early,” her voice was filled with affection. 

Beetlejuice sighed. “Don’t tell the others ‘bout this. They’d just worry if they heard she was having nightmares,” he mumbled, sounding tired already. Barbara’s eyes widened. 

“I… I was expecting you to say you didn’t want your image ruined,” she admitted. 

“Oh I’ve long accepted that I’m ruined, ever since Shoggoth came into my life, even. You guys ruined me. It’s a true loss.” Beetlejuice shot a mock glare at Shoggoth. She simply mewed back sleepily. He then looked through his lashes back to the still sleeping Lydia. “She just needed to know I got her back. Through and through. She’s gonna be okay, I think.” He closed his eyes once more. 

Barbara beamed, a warmth swelling through her long cold body. “You’re a good big brother to Lydia,” she noted. 

Beetlejuice’s hair turned a bright mixture of green and pink. “I… d-damn right I am. And if anybody forgets it I’ll-“ 

“Easy tough guy. Your secret’s safe with me,” Barbara ran a soothing hand through Beetlejuice’s hair. So long ago it was so greasy, styled up without a single product, simply standing with a thick layer of dandruff, grease, and dirt. Now it was softer than the kittens’ fur, and smelled of conditioner, with the slightest musk of bone meal and dirt that was just Beetlejuice’s smell. 

Beetlejuice looked up to her once more, looking unsure. “You uh…. you really think I’m… a good b… br....” he bit his tongue and sighed, looking disappointed in himself. 

Barbara sympathetically pet his head. “I do. And I’m pretty sure Lydia agrees, you’re perfect. We’re a strange and unusual household, with a strange and unusual family, with a strange and unusual girl, with a strange and unusual brother. We’re all just fine,” Barbara nodded. Shoggoth and her kids trilled in agreement. 

Beetlejuice gave a half smile, starting to fall asleep once more. “Thanks, babes...” 

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in my [Shoggoth Au](https://daydreaming-jessi.tumblr.com/post/189133472020/wow-ok-i-wont-shut-up-about-beetlejuice), where basically beetlejuice came back because he found a cat and needed Lydia’s help to take care of it. I wanted to write a sweet lil thing where Beej gets to comfort Lydia when she had a bad dream, and then Barbara came and got all sweet.  
> You can come yell about these cats on my tumblr [@daydreaming-jessi](https://daydreaming-jessi.tumblr.com/)


End file.
